Snohomish County Council approves IBM contract to implement enterprise resource planning system

Snohomish County Council voted 5–0 on March 31, 2026, to approve Motion 26-145 authorizing an agreement with IBM Corporation for professional services to implement an enterprise resource planning solution for the county.

The clerk introduced the item as "a request approving and authorizing execution of the agreement for professional services with IBM Corporation for enterprise resource planning solution implementation services," noting the measure had been continued from the March 25 general legislative session.

Debbie Mok, council staff, told the council she had provided a staff report at the earlier session and offered to deliver it again, saying, "I provided a staff report for this item at GLS on March 25. I am happy to provide the report again if desired. The request today is for council consideration."

During questions, a council member asked about the optional components listed in the contract's implementation section and who would decide whether to add them. The council member said, "On section 3.1 implementation, there's a lot of optional items that could be added through the process. Can you highlight some of those optional items that are gonna be ... Who decides about these options? Is that gonna be you, your team, or is it gonna be in consultation with the county executive or the county council?"

A project representative responded that the system includes "operations modules" such as grants management and asset management, noting "the fusion suite is very rich," and described a steering committee as the decision-making and oversight body. The representative said the committee will include finance and human-resources representatives, the project director, department advisory members and other stakeholders, and added, "I have personally made this a commitment for me to ensure that we'll have a successful project... accountability for this obviously lies with the project leaders, myself."

After the staff report and discussion, a council member moved approval of Motion 26-145; the motion was seconded and put to a voice vote. The facilitator called for ayes, recorded a unanimous affirmation and announced, "that passes 5 to 0." The council did not record individual member roll-call votes in the transcript.

Separately, the chief of staff reported the executive office and council staff are preparing a fiscal-impact calculation in response to the Charter Review Commission and said that paperwork would be provided to the council by the end of the week. The chief of staff also noted a planning-analyst recruitment is active and slated to close April 15.

The council reviewed other business (motion 26-150) and adjourned the administrative session.

Why this matters: The council's approval authorizes a county contract to implement a new integrated ERP system that could affect finance, human resources and grants management across county operations. The item drew questions about optional modules and governance structures, but council members approved moving forward with the contract and with the project oversight described by staff and the project team.